BIG RAPIDS -- Matt DeHart wasn’t a highly recruited basketball player coming out of high school.

In fact, DeHart didn’t attract the attention of any college program after averaging a mere six points and a few rebounds during his senior year at Greenville High School.

But DeHart wanted to still play basketball, and NCAA Division II Ferris State gave him a shot.

DeHart, a 6-foot-4 senior, is making the most of the opportunity and is a starting forward for the Bulldogs, who beat Saginaw Valley State 70-68 on Saturday afternoon at Jim Wink Arena to remain in first place in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Association North Division.

“I came (to Ferris State) to go to school, but I talked to my mom and dad and told them I wanted to walk on the basketball team. I wanted to continue my career,” DeHart said. “I gave coach (Bill) Sall a call and asked him if he wouldn’t mind if I came to an open gym and see if I could help his team.

“I went to a couple of open gyms and he said, 'We’ll take you.' I was grinning from ear to ear, and never in my wildest dreams did I expect to be playing and starting for Ferris State. It has been an awesome experience.”

DeHart played sparingly the past three years, but has emerged as a key contributor on this year’s team, especially in the past month.

DeHart had a career-high 21 points and made six 3-pointers in the 79-72 overtime win.

He scored 14 points in Thursday’s road win against Lake Superior State, to help the Bulldogs take sole possession of the North Division’s top spot.

DeHart has started all 21 games and averages nearly nine points and five rebounds per game. He has reached double figures in scoring in six of his past eight games.

“I’m glad I finally came on because the first part of the season I was in a slump,” said DeHart, who is the Bulldog’s top 3-point shooter with 53 made.

“It’s just a sigh of relief that they have confidence in me and trust me to shoot the ball.”

Ferris State coach Bill Sall said he remembers the day DeHart came to the gym and displayed his shooting accuracy.

“If he doesn’t shoot well in that walk-on tryout, we don’t even know who he is,” Sall said. “And of all the kids I’ve coached, I don’t know anyone who is a harder worker as far as coming to practice every day and just working on his game and making everybody better.

“I think that has given him the respect of all his teammates and, now, he’s in scenario where anything you tell him, he’s does it better. He has hit big shot after big shot for us in the month of January.”

DeHart had nine points on three 3-pointers in Saturday’s win, which was the program’s 1,000th victory all time and eighth in row.

Ferris State (16-5, 12-2 GLIAC) was led by former Ottawa Hills standout Justin Keenan, who had 21 points and 11 rebounds and moved closer to becoming the GLIAC’s all-time leading scorer. He is 80 points away from Grand Valley State’s John Flynn’s record of 1,531, set from 1998-2001.

Darien Gay added 20 points on 5-of-8 3-point shooting for the Bulldogs, and Lou Williams had a school-record eight blocks.

“Their record doesn’t reflect it, but this was a very good team,” Sall said of a Saginaw Valley State team that upset Grand Valley State on Thursday.

“We missed some shots today, but we kept on fighting, and if you want to win a championship, you have to make big shots. We had some guys make big shots at the end.”